Capri scowled, Mis Stacy looked incensed. Something would have to give.

 

Miss Stacy ran out after anne until she caught up with her. "Anne, are you all right?" she asked in concern.

 

Anne sniffled and let a soft sob escape her. "I'm just so discouraged," she lamented. "I thought all the gossip about me was over now and...I have no idea what that girl was talking about, us lying to her about her mother? All I wanted to do was help her, and she called me selfish and a liar and...I didn't do anything wrong!"

 

""I'm so sorry, Anne," Miss Stacy put an arm around her for a moment to comfort her. "It sounds like that child has some very serious emotional issues. But for every one like her, just think about how many other people there are who really do appreciate what you're doing for them. You do your best, and that's all anyone has a right to ask."

 

"This was worse than Mrs. Lynde, or Gilbert Blythe calling me Carrots. I didn't lie to her, I didn't even know enough about her to make up a lie in the first place."

 

"I know, Anne," Mis Stacy said compassionately, "She wasn't making any sense, she might not even have known what she was saying. I can assure you that no one I know of would take her seriously and start disliking you."

 

Anne sniffed. "I know. But it's just so discouraging. I'd rather she just ignored me than say all these things."

 

"Shhh, shhh, there there, I know." Miss Stacy responded. "But maybe Lavender will wish she'd stayed quiet as well,when Capri Monroe gets through with her. Now come, let's go back to your place before Marilla starts to wonder what's keeping you."

 

They walked back to Green Gables together.

 

In the mean time, Lavender was about to find out she would not be allowed to get away with her terrible behavior.

 

Miss Capri Monroe stalked briskly into the room, picked up Lavender and shook her.

 

"Lavender Chelsey! You should be ashamed o' yerself, upsettin Anne Shirley like that! All she's done is try to help and this is what you do in return!"

 

"How could you be so mean!?" Lavender squealed back. "I'm blind!"

 

"Listen, kid!" Capri said sternly, "Do you think yer the only one who's lost a mother? Or that yer special an' should be treated like a princess an' get away with bein such a brat 'cause yer blind? Well, yer wrong! If this is the way you act, it's enough t'drive any mother into hidin - if she even exists..."

 

"She does exist! She does exist! I saw her! I saw her I saw her I SAW HER!" Lavender shreiked and began kicking her legs and flailing her arms in a tantrum.

 

"Quiet!" Capri raised her voice above Lavender's childish tirade, re-enforcing the point with a slap to the face. "That's enough!"

 

Lavender's ego was more bruised than anything else, and tears of rage started to fill her eyes.

 

Capri remained unmoved. "As fer seein yer mamma, at the ball, that's just yer over-active imagination playin tricks or your way of bein center of everybody's attention."

 

"No! I told you I saw her!"

 

"No one else did." Capri countered.

 

"Then they're the ones who are blind! Or they're all liars trying to keep her away from me!"

 

"Now why would anyone do that, Lavender?" Capri probed, trying to get even a trace of something that remotely resembled common sense from the beastly child.

 

"Because they hate me!" Lavender said.

 

"Have you given them any reason to like you?" Capri asked.

 

"They're supposed to be kind to me! I'm a poor blind orphan!"

 

"Who sees her phantom mother at a dance and goes tearing into a complete stranger because of it."

 

"My mother is real!" Lavender shouted back, determined to make this woman sorry for her if it took her last breath to do it.

 

"If she is real, and you want help findin 'er, you can darn well stop actin like a two-year-old, stop bad-mouthin everybody an' puttin on these faintin fits 'cause I don't believe they're real either...An' tell us what you can about yer mamma...Her name, age, show us a picture if you've got one. Then maybe we can start gettin somewhere! Cause at the rate yer goin now, all yer gonna do is land yerself in umteen more orphanages 'til you're old enough to run one!"

 

"How could you be so cruel!?" Lavender wailed. "I'm blind! And stop looking at me like you don't believe me!"

 

"Lavender Chelsey, the next thing outa yer mouth better be an apology! You're not cryin yer way outa this." Capri replied firmly. "Now, you stay in here an' think this over. I'll be back."

 

With that, Capri left Lavender alone with her thoughts.

 

The door shut.

 

Two women's voices could be heard. One was Capri's, the other was the woman who had been at the desk.

 

"I was just about to come and settle her," the desk nurse said, "But I guess you did?"

 

"She's got a few minutes t' think about it an' if she ain't feelin any different by the time I get back in there, someone's gonna hafta punish 'er."

 

"Good luck, Capri. This girl should be glad she's gonna be living with you an' not Mathilda Blewett - well, you know the only reason she wouldn't take the child is because of the...blindness."

 

"I ain't taken 'er either if this is how she behaves. Been havin second thoughts ever since that disgraceful performance at the dance." replied Capri.

 

Lavender made a rude face at the wall. So this was the woman who they were going to let her go to. Not at all like the image of the pretty, demure little Capri Monroe who, in Lavender's wishful thinking, would speak soft, sweet adorations and pity for the blind child, and cater to her every wish until such a time as her real mother could be found.

 

The voices faded out for a while as the women seemed to move out of hearing range.

 

Lavender startled when the door opened after several minutes.

 

"Well, young lady," Capri said, coming toward her. "Are you ready to go to Anne Shirley's to apologize an' promise not to act like that again?"

 

But Lavender remained as stubborn and unrepentant as ever. She glared hatefully, determined to win this battel and have this woman feel sorry for her or ashamed of herself yet. Then she thought of something to say that she hoped would really hurt Miss Monroe. "I'm glad I'm not going to live with you, you are Capri Monroe, that's your name?"

 

"Yes, I am Miss Monroe."

 

"You're dark, tall and ugly. You have the ugliest, harshest voice I ever heard, and you shouldn't have yelled at me. You're supposed to be kind to me, I'm blind and i--"

 

"That's enough!" Capri snapped forcefully. This quieted Lavender's sniveling long enough for Capri to continue. "You might've gotten away with making Anne Shirley run out in tears but this ain't gonna work with me, little girl. I'm not gonna ask again, are you ready to say sorry to her?"

 

Lavender sat there, pouting sullenly.

 

"All right, get up." Capri demanded bruskly, seizing Lavender by an arm.

 

"Ow!"

 

"Knock it off, I'm not hurtin you. Stand up!" Capri got Lavender to stand up hurriedly. "C'mon." she said, still holding the girl by the arm.

 

Lavender struggled, "I don't need you leading me around!"

 

"So much for the poor blind girl, eh?" Capri challenged.

 

"Where are you taking me!? Let go of my arm! You're hurting me! And I *am* blind!"

 

"Blind to consideration of anyone but yerself, yes." Capri responded curtly as she continued hurriedly dragging Lavender along.

 

This comment went completely over Lavender's head, so, she couldn't come up with a rude or self-pitying reply.

 

Capri lead her outside and to a water pump.

 

There, she stopped, and let go of Lavender's arm. "Close yer eyes, open yer mouth."

 

"And if I don't?" Lavender challenged defiantly.

 

"Then you'll get a spanking."

 

"You wouldn't hit me, I'm blind!"

 

"I will turn you over my knee if you keep this up." Capri warned her. "Now open yer mouth."

 

As Lavender closed her eyes and opened her mouth, she heard Capri pump water into a bowl, then put it down.

 

The next thing Lavender was aware of was Capri's arm around her, and something being put into her mouth.

 

"Blech!!" Lavender spat, struggled wildly, and made many exclamations to show her distaste for the soap in her mouth.

 

Capri let her go, bent down, picked up the bowl and offered the clean water to her. "Now, rinse." she said.

 

Lavender did, spitting out mouthfuls of water and yelling rude comments at Capri Monroe the whole time.

 

"Couple more rinses should do it, and then you can take a drink." Capri said, ignoring Lavender's tears and exclamations of how mean and ugly, and unlike her name she was.

 

When Lavender was finished drinking and rincing, Capri took her back inside.

 

"Now, are you ready to go to Anne Shirley's an' say you're sorry?"

 

"No. I just want to sleep." Lavender said irritably.

 

Capri frowned, exhasperated. "Have it your way." she said, and left the room abruptly.

 

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